Stroll: 'Great day, great result, great birthday present!'

Lance Stroll marked his 19th birthday with sixth place in the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday. It's the Williams driver's best result since his podium at Baku, so it's no surprise that he was in a mood to celebrate.

"I think it was a very controlled race," the Canadian reported after the finish. "I had a really good start, but then lost some positions as I was on the outside.

"There were some technical issues and crashes and so I gained some places due to that," he said.

"We had a good idea all along, assuming I was going to stay in one piece and everything was going to continue along smoothly

"I had a great first stint, a great second stint. In the end I wasn't quite close enough to get into the DRS zone to pass Ocon," he continued. "I was really managing the tyres and the car was balanced very well

"It was a great day, a great result and a great birthday present!"

Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe was certainly pleased with how Stroll had performed at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

"He showed strong pace and ran a great first stint on the ultrasoft tyre," said Lowe. "He had some good fortune with the Virtual Safety Car which actually gained him a place over [Sergio] Perez.

"We were also able to fit the supersoft tyre at that stage to go to the end. We had the tyre life and compound advantage over the two Force Indias.

"At one point it looked possible he could have taken the position off Ocon but it was just out of reach.

"It was a great sixth place finish though," Lowe concluded. "So Happy Birthday to Lance and well done for a great achievement today!"

• Hamilton crowned champion as Verstappen wins in Mexico

It wasn't quite such a party atmosphere on the other wide of the Williams garage. Felipe Massa had been forced to make an early pit stop which put him on the back foot for the rest of the race. He eventually crossed the line in 11th place, just out of the points.

"Felipe had a slow puncture from some minor contact in the first corner," explained Lowe. "We had to box him on the second lap."

"We fitted prime tyres to go the end - we were reasonably confident that tyre would go the distance. Felipe managed it very well.

"He had good pace throughout the entire race and if not for Vettel and Hamilton coming through from the back, he would have perhaps got a point or two.

"It was a shame for Felipe because the car was there to get points today and he drove extremely well," Lowe insisted.

"I’m really disappointed," admitted Massa, who is fighting to hold on to his race seat for 2018. "It was a shame to stop so soon with the puncture at the beginning of the race.

"The car was good, competitive and I’m sure it would have been a completely different situation if we didn’t have the puncture. That’s the way it is sometimes."

Despite Massa missing out on points, Stroll's sixth place means that Williams pulls away from Toro Rosso on the constructors championship. They're currently in fifth place in the standings, holding a 23 point advantage heading to Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"We’ve taken some further advantage in our fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship," noted Lowe. "Well done to the team for getting two cars home and in good shape to go into the final two races."

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